Kahlo’s mother Erika wanted to design a room that reflected her husband’s Mexican heritage, and that wasn’t all about animals like many nurseries. In her words “I think the hardest part, and it still is, is holding back from buying anything and everything with a luchador printed on it. I wanted the luchadores to be present in the room but not completely take over.”

Don’t you think our Lucha Libre hoodie would be the perfect match for this new little citizen?

María de los Dolores Olmedo y Patiño Suarez was a well-known Mexican businesswoman. She studied law in the early years of the 20th century, and went on to own property and factories all over Mexico. Olmedo was also a philanthropist to the arts, and was good friends with both Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Diego painted several portraits of her, the most famous of which was painted in 1955 after Frida’s death:

We love her traditional embroidered top and the classic Frida-style flowers in her hair!

Her biggest life achievement was the creation of the Dolores Olmedo Museum in Mexico City, which holds her massive art collection. Our designers visited the museum and loved the xoloitzcuintle dogs and peacocks that run wild in the gardens! To date the museum holds 145 paintings by Diego Rivera, and 25 by Frida Kahlo, as well as 6,000 pre-Hispanic figurines.

Dolores Olmedo died at the age of 93 in 2002, but her legacy of art appreciation continues. In her words “Following the example of my mother, a teacher, Prof. María Patiño Suárez widow of Olmedo, I live as she taught me: ‘share all you have with those around you’. I therefore will this house with all my collections of art, product of a lifetime’s endeavor, for the pleasure and enjoyment of the People of Mexico.” It’s worth a visit if you find yourself in Mexico City.

Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. For more Behind the Designs click here.

We loved the vibrant patterns and fun designs of these Mexico City boats. We couldn’t resist going on a boat ride and we obviously had to hire our own mariachi band. We requested a female singer, which is less common (pictured above). A good time was had by all! This experience inspired our Mariachi en Barco Tee. We hope you enjoy!

Have you ever heard of Mexican hairless dogs? The xoloitzcuintle (pronounced shoh-loyts-kwint-lee) is native to Mexico, with roots tracing back over 3,000 years, and are believed to be the first domesticated dog of the Americas.

Their hairlessness has many theories, the most popular being that it was a survival tactic in the hot tropical regions of Mexico. The Aztecs in particular were very fond of these dogs, with the belief that they were necessary to guide their owners through the underworld upon death. Xolos exude an exceptional amount of body heat and were valued during cold months as additional heat sources at night. Perhaps due to this, they also gained a reputation as being healers, and are still kept around today as superstition for fighting away sickness. Xoloitzcuintles are also appreciated for their guard-dog abilities and unwillingness to back down in a fight. They bond strongly to their owners and are a notoriously intelligent breed.

Our designers saw quite a few xoloitzcuintles on their inspiration trip to Mexico. The dogs above live in the Dolores Olmedo Museum in Mexico city, in honor of the philanthropist’s love of the breed.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are among the most well-known fans of the xoloitzcuintle dog. Frida with two of her pets (above left), and in her self portrait with her xoloitzcuintle (above right).

What do you think of xoloitzuintles? Do you find them elegant and beautiful? Or strange and ugly? They unfortunately didn’t make the cut for any of our Tea graphics this year, but we’re still fascinated by them!

The Nahual, pronounced [nah-wahl] is a mystical creature who acts as a spiritual guide in many Mesoamerican religions. While every person has a nahual, they need to seek out their spirit animal to connect with it. Many believe the way to find your nahual is to find a isolated and peaceful place to sleep, and the animal that appears in your dream will be your spirit animal. The spirit animal can be any animal, or a mixture of animals. It is often depicted as a lion-like creature with human features, like in the Mexican ceramics above. We loved these creatures, so chose to make our nahual in a similar style. We hope he’ll inspire you and your children to find your own animal spirit!

Every Friday we share a weekly behind-the-scenes photo taken in our offices at Tea.This could be anything – great employee outfits, our sources of inspiration, shots from our parties, or photos of us hard at work. For more sneak peeks behind the scenes at Tea click here.

Amber on the design team brought this zapatista doll back from Mexico. Zapatistas are a leftist revolutionary group based out of Chiapas, and their fashion is a huge part of identifying who is participating in the movement. We’ll be writing more about them later! This little doll sits on the windowsill in the design department watching the daily hustle and bustle. We brought him downstairs to show him off in front of our large map of the world.